Islanders Place Pulock, Hogberg on IR; Skarek Recalled as Injuries Pile Up

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — The New York Islanders announced that the club placed defenseman Ryan Pulock and goaltender Marcus Hogberg on the Injured Reserve list. The moves come after they exited Saturday night’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes early, and neither returned.

The Defense:

Pulock had been the only Islanders’ defenseman to appear in every game until that point, but now he joins a growing list of players on the IR, including three of the team’s opening-night defensemen. Noah Dobson was given a week-to-week timeline, but it’s largely expected he will not appear until March at the very earliest. Dobson was also placed on the long-term injured reserve, guaranteeing his return would come after the Four Nations’s Face-Off.  Mike Reilly is still recovering from heart surgery.

The Islanders ran through new defensive pairs on Monday at practice, with the new pairs looking like this:

Romanov-DeAngelo

Pelech-Mayfield

George-Cholowski

It’s mildly surprising the Islanders have not opted to recall Grant Hutton, at least not yet. Stylistically, he plays similarly to Pulock, as opposed to Dennis Cholowski, who has primarily succeeded offensively. Hutton played meaningful minutes on the P.K. earlier this season when there were other injuries to New York’s blue line.

Goaltending:

Hogberg also landed on IR after starting five games and appearing in seven. The Swedish goaltender arrived to shore up the depth at the position organization-wide and brought great stability after Semyon Varlamov got hurt and has not even resumed skating yet.

Hogberg’s numbers have been sparkling through his seven appearances, recording a 2-2-0 record with a 1.45 GAA and a .947 SV%. Despite being the backup, Hogberg earned Head Coach Patrick Roy’s trust and helped give Ilya Sorokin some much-needed rest.

The team recalled Jakub Skarek, a 2018 third-round draft pick who has not yet appeared in an NHL game. He has played in 20 games in the AHL with a 5-11-1 record. The team itself is 10-27-4, so it’s far from Skarek’s fault. His stats include a 3.22 GAA and a .895 SV%.

The Islanders have two back-to-backs this weekend and next, all against playoff teams. Skarek will likely get at least one of those games, but Roy has shown in the past he’s not afraid to play his goalie in consecutive games.